Residents throughout many of our popular tourist destinations are unhappy at the increased number of visitors, supposedly encroaching on their section of New Zealand paradise.

These, classically first-world, complaints come only days after reports that ‘Tourism has overtaken Dairy as the country’s biggest earner’…

New Zealand’s so-called tourism hotspots, such as Queenstown in the South and Coromandel in the North, according to locals, have become so ‘overrun with tourists’ that their ‘lifestyles’ are being ‘compromised’.

…Makes me wonder if perhaps dairying needs a boost in these areas; remove all traces of benefits brought about by tourism – improved financing of respective councils along with improved commerce across the area, thus vastly improved infrastructure and living standards in general – and let’s bring in another few thousand of those smelly, noisy, muddy, hungry, messy, mooey and pooey, yet always friendly, dairy cows…

Those fortunate enough to own a portion of idyllic New Zealand in one of the aforementioned regions, understandably, would like conditions to remain the same as they were when these people purchased that slice of paradise all those years ago; understandable idealism, but unrealistic logic.

…Given the nature of New Zealand’s population growth over the past few decades – additionally with a major reduction in sheep numbers and increase in dairy cows – from 3.5 to now over 4.5 million of us cotton-wool-packed, flaccid-backboned, sugar-coated jelly-babies, as one might expect, so too has there been a shift in the nature of the land on which this swelling army of budding malcontents reside…

Along with the rest of this, now electronically intertwined, world, New Zealand must keep moving with the times; we must realise that without the blessing of international visitors there would be no funding, perhaps even no need, for the public recreation facilities, for the attractions, features or displays – also abundant public amenities – that we as Kiwis take for granted.

…Indeed through Internet, television, movies, and general international hype, New Zealand’s desirability as a tourist destination has become world renowned, and it seems only to be this reign of ‘classic Kiwi ignorance’ (a trait which those unnamed ‘ignorant’ prefer to pass off as their ‘she’ll be right Kiwi attitudes’ and which they actually consider an endearment because, let’s be fair, when it comes to self-assessment/reflection/acknowledgement, us Kiwis aren’t great) which is perpetuating this month’s token complaint (this is the clear result of a nation with insufficient genuine hardship – shortage of war, famine, persecution, displacement etc – to keep its people occupied) of ‘Somehow finding fault with the fact that most things about our country are great and that most people across the world happen to share this sentiment, but this is for some reason, a less than great result’…

‘Freedom campers’, campers who come to the country with little more than a vehicle and a tent – often also a surprising amount of expendable cash – have long been a source of discontent for Kiwi locals, the primary issue being one of ‘improper waste disposal’; that is, human waste which is frequently not disposed.

…Human congestion aside, it seems the actual reason behind New Zealanders’ apparent unwillingness to share with the rest of the world this bountiful tourist destination of ours, has less to do with ‘overcrowding’ and in fact more to do with ‘mistreatment’ – seemingly foreign overstayers fail to treat our land with the respect that we believe it ought to be treated…

Obviously the more tourists passing through our fine land, the better the infrastructure will have to become, therefore the more people we can have through thus the better the facilities and attractions around the country will become for everyone; additionally the more tourists the better the employment opportunities for Kiwis hoping to involve themselves in this industry, which would quickly see an end to that other issue the malcontents are constantly bemoaning – the apparent shortage of New Zealand job prospects.

…Curiously enough, this supposed ‘mistreatment of another nationality’s country’ sounds suspiciously akin to the way, as reports would have it – nay it sounds exactly like the way – (as reports would have it) that Kiwi tourists often act when we travel abroad.

Tourism benefits New Zealand; New Zealanders need to stop being such intolerant hypocrites and start benefitting from tourism.

Article by Tim Walker

Edited by True Iswall Kim

Photography by Slicer Perry Dais